


I'm begging for you to take my hand (wreck my plans)

by insteadofjust_invisible



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe, enemies to lovers (sort of)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:08:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28232943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insteadofjust_invisible/pseuds/insteadofjust_invisible
Summary: "Over the next four days, he tried four different seasonal drinks. His favorite so far had been the peppermint chocolate chip frap, but he was a man on a mission. His mission? To try out all of the different seasonal flavors at the café.And maybe win the heart of the cute barista in the meantime. Christmas miracles and all that, after all."or a (sort of) enemies to lovers willex coffee shop au filled with fluffy christmas tropes.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	I'm begging for you to take my hand (wreck my plans)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [JATP Secret Santa](http://jatpsecretsanta.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. Go check out all the other incredible creations for this initiative there!
> 
> To [Sara](http://gennified.tumblr.com/), I hope you enjoy your gift! I had so much fun writing this and indulging in a bunch of tooth-rooting fluff, so I hope this brings a smile to your face <3
> 
> Title from willow by Taylor Swift - mostly because I finished this fic while hearing evermore. What can I say?

Alex had never been allowed to drink coffee, eat candy, or watch TV. None of that had ever been much of a problem, until he moved to LA his junior year of high school and met Reggie, Luke and Julie who basically lived off caffeine, candy, and bad reality shows, respectively. The more time he spent with them, the more he fell victim to frappuccinos and The Real Housewives. 

It all started during band rehearsal, like most things do with them. Alex had spent most of the night before awake (another thing he had never been allowed to do but, recently, with the band and his parents all but ignoring him, he was basically free to do as he pleased. Not that he pleased pulling an all nighter, it was just... priorities and all that), cramming for a Chemistry test, proceeded to have a generally shitty day at school, and now come rehearsal time, he was cranky and moody and having the hardest time to stay awake. He kept missing his cues and drumming to the wrong beats, if not to the wrong songs completely.

“You alright there, man?” Luke asked, after he had missed his cue on Bright for the fourth time in a row, “we can take a break, if you need it.”

“Yeah, sorry. I didn’t sleep much last night.”

“Did anything happen?”

“Just school. It’s alright, we can keep going. We can’t miss rehearsal time if we wanna be ready for the gig on Saturday.”

Luke and Reggie exchanged a glance, nodding to each other before putting their instruments down and walking to stand in front of the drums. Julie stood up too, but didn’t really leave the piano, not that it was needed, Alex could feel her worry from afar.

“I know you don’t drink it… but you can have some of my coffee, it might help you focus.”

“I… you know what,” Alex said, setting his drumsticks down, “I will have some. Thanks, Reggie.”

That was clearly unexpected, a beat of silence following his reply before Reggie jumped at it, almost tripping on his amp cord as he made his way to the coffee table where he had left his thermos. He handed it to Alex gingerly, a frown on his face as if already expecting him to spit it out in disgust and holy moly, that was bitter. Alex was sure he frowned too, because soon all his friends were laughing at him.

“I say we take five?” Julie suggested, sitting back down. Everyone was quick to agree, Luke grabbing his notebook from the top of his amp and moving toward his girlfriend, the two of them shutting everything and everyone out to work on a song. Reggie stayed to keep him company and, before he knew it, Alex had finished his coffee, barely paying attention to how bitter it was by the end.

Their break ended up lasting five hours instead of five minutes, Julie and Luke not coming out of their bubble until they had finished their new song. Alex didn’t mind though - the coffee did help him and he ran through their set list a few times on his own, Reggie joining him for Finally Free just because.

“I think we are done with practice today, uh?” Julie finally spoke, stretching up her ams while Luke closed their writing notebook and let his head fall on top of the closed piano lid with a thud. Julie’s hands immediately went to caress at his neck.

“Do you guys want to stick around for dinner? There’s a new episode of The Real Housewives coming on, we can watch it while we wait for dad.”

“Sounds good, Jules.”

“Or we can play some games if you want, Alex,” Luke offered, words muffled from his position. It always soothed Alex’s anxiety to have Luke always on his side when it came to his parents’ ridiculous rules. He did not understand why he still followed them, given everything, but he never argued. Neither did the others, really, but they were quicker to forget, whereas Luke and him have been ride-or-die since kindergarten, when Mercer and Patterson stood one behind the other in line.

Back to present day, Alex paused to take all of his friends in. Things have changed quite a lot in the past year for him, from moving cities to getting a crush on Luke and starting a band with him, his girlfriend and her stepbrother, to coming out to his parents and losing his parents and trying so damn hard not to lose anything else. New Alex, same old rules, it made sense at the time, but now… now, after all his new experiences and his new friends, he wasn’t so sure. Especially rules such as the whole no TV rule. Most of the time that one wasn’t much of a problem anyways, with them practicing right up until dinner, Carlos having to come call them back into the real world, but that day, well, that day was already different, wasn’t it?

“No, no, we can watch Julie’s show. No harm in it, right?” Alex asked, sending his parents a text to let them know he wouldn’t be coming home for dinner (not that they cared but, still, he tried. He hoped he could repair their relationship someday. Though he should probably try and stick to their rules better for that, not, you know, drinking Reggie’s coffee and staying at Julie’s to watch reality TV and accepting the M&M’s Luke was offering him-

Fuck it.

He was already going to hell anyways.)

  
  
  


“Alex! I got you something.”

That was how Reggie greeted them during rehearsal a few days later. Alex had since tried Snickers and Reese’s, offered to him by a girl in his Statistics class he was pretty sure had been hitting on him since his first day at Los Feliz, and Luke, who was clearly so excited to teach him about his way of live, based on his belief that candy and sugar were the base of the food pyramid. Thank God Alex was not his dentist.

“Thanks?”

“You’re welcome!” he replied, grabbing two other cups from the cup holder and handing them out to Julie and Luke, before grabbing the last cup for himself, “the Dirty Candy girls told me about this coffee shop that opened nearby and I decided to give it a try today.”

And that was how Alex found out about Hollywood Grinder Café and the magic of seasonal drinks. Reggie had gotten him a classic mocha frappuccino that afternoon, which he immediately decided was his favorite, but the very next day when he walked into the café, his eyes immediately caught sight of the banner advertising the holiday menu. Alex loved the holidays. Put that into his now favorite drink? Heaven on earth. 

Over the next four days, he tried four different seasonal drinks. His favorite so far had been the peppermint chocolate chip frap, but he was a man on a mission. His mission? To try out all of the different seasonal flavors at the café.

And maybe win the heart of the cute barista in the meantime. Christmas miracles and all that, after all.

The barista, Willie, seemed to have it for Alex. Usually, he would be manning the coffee machine, so Alex had never interacted with him until two weeks in, when he stopped by early Saturday morning, before a last minute rehearsal they were having for a gig that night. He came in to find a basically empty café, save for Willie, at the register, and an old lady sitting by the window with her dog in a buggie.

“Hi, welcome to the Hollywood Grinder Café. What can I get you?” he asked, greeting Alex with a playful smile that highlighted a single dimple. The light reflected his eyes just right, their brown warm and confor- “Are you ordering, man?”

“Oh, hi. Hi,” Alex shook his head, trying to regain his focus. If he had found Willie cute from afar, he had no words to describe him up close, “sorry. I will have the, uh, chestnut praline latte,” he said, blurting the first drink he managed to read from the banner.

“It’s you,” Willie accused, mouth dropping open in shock. Alex was Alex, yes? What about it?

“Sorry?”

“It’s you that has been unironically ordering all the holiday themed drinks on the menu!”

“Yes?”

“Dude, seriously?”

All Alex could do was shrug in response, confused by the sudden change in tone. What was wrong with holiday themed drinks? Willie rolled his eyes at him, finishing up the order and pushing the buttons a tad bit too forceful on the register. Jezz, it was just coffee. Alex watched closely as Willie prepared him coffee, not because he really appreciated how Willie looked in the layered shirts he was wearing that day, but to make sure he didn’t spit into his coffee or anything like that (he didn’t. The ‘enjoy it’ he said when he handed over the drink was definitely spiteful though).

  
  
  


The next time Alex stopped by the coffee shop - a whole three days later because while had 17 years of missed coffee opportunities to catch up with, he was a 17-year-old with no job and no allowance - it seemed that Willie had gotten over whatever it was he had against holiday themed drinks and Alex’s liking for them. That is, he hadn’t rolled his eyes nor made any comments to him, even managing to contain the wry smile that had been accompanying Alex’s drinks.

Alex’s plan was to order his drink of the day and go straight to Julie’s, but while he was waiting for Willie to make it, Reggie texted him to let him know Carlos’ baseball game had gone on to overtime, so they would be half an hour to an hour later. He decided to stay then, try and study some (he could have gone to Julie’s still, they all had a key to the garage, but hadn’t his English teacher said that changing your study spot helped the brain learn? Something like that, yes. Surely.)

“Hey man, do you mind if I change the ambient music to something more upbeat?”

Alex jumped at the sound of Willie’s voice, his phone flying from his hand onto the floor. He hadn’t noticed it, but in the 20 minutes or so that had passed since he had sat down with his coffee, the café had emptied out, even the other barista that had taken his order was gone. It was just Willie and him.

“It’s your coffee shop, not mine,” he finally replied, glad he could escape the other boy’s glance as he ducked to recover his phone. There was a pause in the music and Alex hoped that meant it would go from boring elevator music to maybe a 90’s grunge or punk. Willie seemed like the kind of guy to like that.

Seemed being the operative word.

The minute the first beats of what was clearly Call Me Maybe started to play, Alex froze, so shocked he almost dropped his phone again. He did spill some of his drink, the coffee dripping down his chin and onto his shirt.

“Told you these drinks you like taste awful.”

Ha ha. Alex could barely register the dig at him, Carly Rae Jepsen’s voice occupying all his thoughts. See, he was not one to judge people for their music taste, he really wasn’t. But… there were limits and, when it came to pop, there was good pop and questionable pop. Carly Rae Jepsen definitely crossed into questionable pop. There was no real meaning to her lyrics, just a mumble jumble that rhymed and got stuck to your head for ages. 

Maybe he should go back and revise his whole winning the heart of the cute barista plan. Willie was cute (fun, charming, handsome, gorgeous…), but he also seemed to still have it for him and not in that ‘I work retail and unfortunately you are a customer’ type of way Alex had thought it was about at first. It seemed to be more personal, God knows why. On top of that, there was the questionable music taste. Music was a big thing! He couldn’t date someone who had a bad - questionable, again, no judgements there - music taste, could he? Luke would never let him live it down.

Alex went back to his drink and opened his drums tabs in hopes of a distraction - so much for studying. He didn’t pay attention to Willie dorkily dancing to the music behind the counter, he definitely did not. The plan was a no-go anymore, anyways. 

  
  
  


Which is why he found himself standing in line at the HCG the following Tuesday, beating to the rhythm of Julie and the Phantoms’ newest song on his tights. That day, Willie was in the register, the other barista manning the machines instead. Perfect opportunity (and not just for the up close eye candy). Alex eyed his options, figuring out what he could order that would annoy Willie the most.

“I’ll have the Christmas Tree frappuccino, please,” he asked, a smirk forming on his face when he noticed Willie froze mid-movement.

“It has frozen strawberries in it.”

“I know!”

“Freaking. Frozen. Strawberries,” Willie insisted, pausing between the words, “in your coffee.”

“Sounds tasty,” Alex replied, licking his lips for good taste. The disgust on Willie’s face should have been enough for him to crack, but he wasn’t going to lose their game, oh no.

“I-” he started, but one more look at Alex and he interrupted himself, shaking his head in disbelief, “you know what. You do you.”

Willie finished his order then, muttering under his breath the whole time and pressing the buttons on his screen with more force than necessary. When he handed Alex his drink, smiling all too ironically, he almost spilled half of it. Alex simply thanked him and walked out (and yeah, maybe the frozen strawberries were a bad choice, but whatever, it was not like the drink tasted bad. It just didn’t taste good.)

  
  
  


At one point, Alex wasn’t even sure whether Willie was actually making what he had ordered or if he was just making it up on the go, trying to make him give in and give up on his mission. Either way, both what he would order and what he would get were exceedingly sweet and barely caffeinated, which was all that mattered, so he kept at it. They kept at it. They kept exchanging false smiles and jabs and dabs and stolen glances when the other wasn’t looking. Alex started stealing the few band shirts Luke hadn’t cut the sleeves off to wear and subtly throw it at Willie’s face what a good musical taste actually looked like. Willie noticed all of them, of course he did, but he kept playing the most obnoxious pop music he could think of when Alex and him were left alone in the café (and sometimes when they weren’t either, usually on Thursday afternoons when a group of 13-year-old girls would meet there for whatever reason 13-year-olds need to meet at a café for). It was just the way things were, a constant push and pull, give and take, a game neither wanted to lose.

Until Willie gave far more Alex could have imagined, a play completed out of the book in their game.

He booked them a gig.

It happened like this:

Alex had tried to keep the HGC a secret from the band. Or, rather, he had tried to keep the fact that he was a regular there from the band, he really did, and he probably would have succeeded at it, if it wasn’t for the fact Luke was a complete alien to the concept of personal boundaries. 

It was a Friday, he technically had study hall as his last period, but he would always ask to use the restroom during the first five minutes of class just to leave school entirely and skip the rest of it. Ever since discovering HGC, he would spend this extra hour there, sipping on yet another holiday drink and trying to get ahead of homework in order to dedicate the entire weekend to the band. So far, so good, it was a typical Friday afternoon, until Alex heard a voice that sounded all too much like...

“Over there, Reggie,” Luke exclaimed, pointing over Reggie’s shoulder to where Alex was. The boy in question groaned, dropping his head to read on the table. Of fucking course.

“Hey, Alex.”

“Hey…” he replied weakly, taking a deep breath before raising his head to come face to face with his two best friends, “what are you guys doing here?”

“Julie needed to help Flynn with girl stuff before practice, so Luke and I were just chilling and we remembered you mentioned a café you go to now, so here we are!”

“Right… but how did you find out it was this coffee shop I come to?”

“Oh, easy. We found the fidelity card in your bag. Here,” Luke explained, not bothered at all by the fact he had gone through Alex’s things, handing him said fidelity card, “so you can get your stamp for today!”

At least he had brought the card Alex forgot with him. Deciding not to waste his energy discussing with Luke the meaning of personal boundaries, he simply waves them off to order, heavily leaning against the back of his chair. So much for keeping this place a secret.

So, so much for keeping it a secret. By the time Luke and Reggie had ordered (without receiving a single side-eye or murmured complaint from Willie, Alex noticed), Julie came into the café, slightly out of breath like she had runned over there.

“Aaah I see why you like this place,” she joked, sitting next to Alex with a heavy thump. She still had her book bag, so she must have come straight there from wherever she and Flynn had gone. Traitor. Traitors, all of them, really, because how else would Julie know where to come if Luke hadn’t told her?

“Shut up,” he said, turning so he could look at her instead of Willie, “shouldn’t you go order?”

“Luke got me.”

“Of course he did.”

Julie simply laughed at that, settling in her chair and blatantly staring at her boyfriend, now making conversation with Willie. Alex took that as his cue to go back at observing his friends, but of course he didn’t stop looking when Luke and Reggie made their way back to the table with their drinks in hand. How could someone so annoying like Willie be so captivating?

“Aaah so that’s why you like this place so much,” Luke joked, mirroring Julie just minutes before. Fucking soulmates. Luke elbowed Reggie in the stomach and nodded towards Willie behind the counter, making all heads turn toward the barista. Alex rolled his eyes, but continued to stare at Willie, at the way his arms flexed as he clicked the coffee dispenser into place, the way a single strand of hair had escaped from his bun and was hanging distractly in front of his eyes, a half-hearted denial coming off his lips.

“Careful, you’re drooling there.”

Alex didn’t think it through, he simply moved one of his hands to wip at his mouth, the realization coming a second too late when his friends started crackling and his hoodie sleeve remained dry.

“He’s cute,” Julie mentioned, earning a pout from Luke, “what’s his name?”

“Willie.”

“You should invite him to our next gig.”

That came from Reggie, who thought inviting girls to their gigs was the go to manner to flirt. Much to his annoyance, it seemed to work for him too, which he all too gladly constantly gloated about. In any case, it was not like that would work for Alex.

“It doesn’t matter. He hates me,” he said, having to raise his voice upon his friends protests, “AND he hates our sound.”

His three bandmates looked at him stunned, silent for a single second before they started screaming how dare he, how could someone hate Alex, how could someone hate rock (this one from Luke, obviously, who seemed more astounded by the fact Willie hated their sound more so than he hated Alex), all sorts of things that were very nice and sweet of them, but that were definitely not quiet nor subtle nor necessary right there and then. He smiled either way, not noticing Willie was smiling as well, observing them from behind the counter.

Julie and the guys started to come with him more often, usually on the weekends whenever they had an early or late afternoon practice. They would meet there, chill for a bit, make fun of Alex and, the worst part of it all, was that they all got along with Willie.

That particular day, they were studying at the café, band practices on a halt until they had all passed their finals. Alex and Julie were going over their Chemistry notes, Julie teaching him the ins and outs her much cooler, much more capable teacher had taught her class, while Reggie had struck conversation with an older gentleman on the stools and Luke was taking his 44th break in the past hour, talking to Willie by the counter.

“YES! Thank you, man.”

It was Luke who had all but screamed, scaring the other customers there. Julie facepalmed, pretending to ignore her boyfriend when he looked over at them, grinning like a crazy man. Alex was just confused, wordlessly asking the guitarist what was going on.

“Willie here said there’s an open mic here next week. Signs up are closed, but he can fit us in.”

“Sweet!” Reggie exclaimed, turning away from his own conversation to high five Luke and Willie.

Sweet indeed, but all Alex can think of is why would Willie do this for them? No one would look at either Luke with his sleeveless band shirts and Reggie with his flannel and leather jacket combo and think they played the shitty pop Willie listened to, and he wouldn’t go through the trouble of fitting an entire new act if they didn’t like their music now, would he? Unless…

Unless he got a crush on Luke? On Julie? On Reggie? The thought came up more and more the following days whenever Alex stopped by (and he regretted saying he stopped by everyday that week. Finals were hell on earth and Alex had no idea how he had made it through them without coffee and candy before) and Willie was nice to him. Actual, real nice, no snarky comments about his drink choice of the day, no changing the boring elevator music to catchy pop. One day, the day before the open mic night, actually, Blink 182 was playing, Blink 182!

That same day, Willie went as far as striking up a conversation with Alex. Now, he had done so on Monday, when Luke had gone with him, and Tuesday, when both Julie and Reggie had tagged along, but Alex by himself? Never before.

Alex wished he could say he was nice in return, but that would be a stretch. See, Alex was a naturally sarcastic person and his sarcasm could - and would - often be taken as rude (particularly by his parents. Especially by his parents, who lately had started to treat his personality less like they had failed him and more like it was a side-effect of him being gay, like being gay was a disease that came to signs and side-effects. Alex wasn’t sure he cared. Or minded). When it came to Willie, it was a thousand times worse, because he had integrained it into his brain to turn on the sarcasm and the insults up a notch around the barista. And, really, what better self-defense mechanism against his nerves around Willie than being a complete asshole about it?

Then, on the night of the open mic, everything was definitely turned up a notch, but not the sarcasm and the insults like usual. The band arrived all together, found the HGC filled up to the brim with the other bands and the audience. Willie was manning the coffee machine, moving at a speed Alex thought was impossible for one to move when handling porcelain mugs and hot drinks, and when he spotted them walking in, he stopped, waved, and grabbed a cup holder with four drinks, gesturing them to come take it, it was theirs. Reggie sneered, Julie giggled, both of them pushed him forward toward the counter to meet Willie.

“On the house tonight,” he said, flashing him a real, genuine smile that quickly turned apologetic when his co-workers screamed at him to move along with the orders. Alex was dumbfounded, staring back and forth at the coffees in his hand and at Willie, until someone bumped into him with a hurried excuse. Shaking himself out of his stupor, Alex looked around to see that his bandmates had found a miraculously empty table towards the end, close to the kitchen’s doors, and had settled there to watch - they were among the last bands to perform. Alex followed them there.

“Nice of Willie,” Julie said the second he sat down with them. Alex glared at her. “I mean it! To invite us and then give us drinks?”

“Real nice of him, really,” Luke agreed, taking a sip of his drink. Everyone shook their heads, probably to get a nag out of Alex, who simply rolled his eyes at him and focused on his coffee. Assholes, all of them. Assholes.

The other bands performing were good. Dirty Candy was on the list too, the girl coming in right before their slot and disappearing almost immediately after, Carrie and Kayla quickly stopping by their table long enough for them to congratulate the girls and for the girls to wish them good luck. Soon it was their turn and, as they were approaching the makeshift stage, Alex felt a hand enclosing around his wrist, halting him in place.

“Just wanted to say break a leg. I’m sure you are going to rock it.”

It was Willie, leaning in close to pass on his good luck wishes to Alex close to his ear, causing a shriver to go down his spine. He immediately felt his cheeks burning up, knew all too well they were probably beet red. Alex muttered a quick thanks under his breath as Willie let him go, having the nerve to wink at him when he took one last look at the boy before sitting down behind his drum set. The thought urging him to breath came right along the thought calling Willie an asshole. Alex thanked God and every single saint he could think of for the fact drummers stayed in the back of the stage - that way no one could actually see he was blushing.

They played flawlessly, Julie hitting all the notes to Bright as easy as breathing, Luke and Reggie shredding it in their instruments, their harmonies perfectly timed, Alex not missing a single cue on the drums. The HGC went crazy after they finished, clapping and screaming and Alex was so sure he could hear a ‘yeah Alex!’ being shouted from somewhere in the café. He blushed again, his brain immediately thinking it had been Willie, Willie who was… settling in place on the stage they had just vacated?

Oh.

Willie could play. Willie could sing and he sounded like a damn angel. Alex was sure his mouth was hanging open but he couldn’t care less, not when Willie, his crush, the boy he was falling hard and fast for, was right there up on the stage, shining under the bright lights, singing like it was no one else’s business, completely in his element. He wasn’t singing a trashy pop song like the one he insisted putting on when Alex was around either, no, he was singing something that could only be considered indie rock or even indie punk.

Alex was floored, he knew that, his bandmates knew that, all of them looking up at him expectantly while Willie and his bandmate played on.

“He hates our sound, huh?” asked Luke, causing Julie to fall into a fit of laughter. Reggie soon joined her, and Alex couldn’t help but smile at that. Okay, maybe he had misread things a bit, but just a bit. He was still sure Willie hated him.

Julie, Luke and Reggie left soon after Willie finished playing, officially ending the performances for the night, but Alex stayed behind, ordered another drink and sat down in one of the comfy chairs by the window, getting lost in thought watching the buzz of people.

“Hey man,” he heard, looking up to find Willie standing behind the chair across from him, a soft smile on his face, “where are the others?”

“They left. Julie and Reggie had to get home before their curfew.”

“Who knew your rock band would have a curfew,” he joked, a glint in his eyes. Alex laughed, almost breathless, before explaining.

“Just Julie and Reggie, really. Their dad usually comes to watch us play, but there was no one to stay with their little brother tonight.”

“Oh, they’re siblings,” Willie said, voice raising to a question before falling flat and just sounding very confused.

“Reggie is adopted,” he clarified.

“Now that makes much more sense. That’s cool though.”

Alex hummed in agreement, basking in the different tone to their conversation. He didn’t really mind it though, and when silence fell upon them, he took the chance to observe Willie more closely. He had a hoop earring on his left ear, there was a key hanging from the chain Alex could always catch a glance from underneath his collar, and, that night, his hair was finally down, laying freely around his shoulders. When Alex caught his eye, he was serious, pensive, and Alex felt himself blushing for the third time that night.

“Can I ask you something?” he blurted, hands immediately starting to fidget with the braided rainbow bracelet Flynn had gifted him when he came out. Willie nodded, sitting down on the couch he was leaning against, “why do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you!” Willie exclaimed, before Alex had even fully finished his sentence. When the other boy simply looked at him, eyebrows raised, he relented “... ok, I see where you’re coming from. I just hate your coffee orders, to be honest. I really cannot understand how you like that shit your order,” he said, pausing for a moment before asking, confusedly “you do like them?”

“Honestly? Yeah,” Alex replied, smiling when Willie’s eyes bulged in incredulity and deciding to confess,” not all of them though! The last few ones I might have ordered as a joke to rile you up.”

“Aaah man!” he exclaimed, slapping at his own tights. Alex laughed, more taken aback than for finding it funny.

“Why do you hate my coffee orders then?”

“They are all awful to make,” it was Willie’s turn to confess, “so many ingredients to remember, the right order you have to put them in, not to mention the ones that are super aesthetic? A pain in the ass if you ask me.”

“Ok, I guess I can see that. I was thinking you were a coffee purist, all hail black coffee.”

“Well, I wouldn’t call myself a coffee purist, but your orders are an offense to real coffee.”

“What’s your go to coffee order then?” Alex asked, leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees. Willie made himself more comfortable too, slouching on the chair and raking a hand through his hair.

“A cold brew or an iced coffee. If I’m feeling fancy, I will add a hazelnut shot.”

“Maybe I will have to try it next time I stop by.”

“Maybe you don’t need to stop by to try it.”

Oh, Alex had been misreading this whole thing then. He breathed in, trying to calm down his heart, which was beating incredibly fast on his chest.

“Sorry, I don’t follow?”

“You’re wired a little tight, aren’t you?” Willie asked instead, to which Alex nodded unconsciously. Yeah, that was one way to put it, he thought, almost too lost in thought to hear what Willie said next: “I was trying to invite you over to my house, dumbass.”

But his brain caught on, prompting him to sit straight as he let a small ‘oh’ escape.

“Yeah,” Willie ruffled, clearly amused, “oh.”

“I’d like that,” Alex said, blushing for the, what, tenth time that night? He would very much like that, actually, but he should play it cool just to be completely, absolutely, a hundred percent sure. Willie semed to catch on the way he was spiraling, deciding to change the subject for the other boy’s sake:

“Now it’s my turn?”

“Uh?”

“Why do you hate my song choices?” he asked, clearly pleased with himself when Alex’s dropped back against his chair, arms coming up as if saying ‘isn’t it obvious?’

“Dude, you unironically listen to Carly Rae Jepsen.”

Willie laughed out loud, not an ounce ashamed, but defending himself nonetheless: “it’s fun! They help when I’m alone and bored,” he paused to nudge at Alex’s knee, “and, c’mon, I know you’re in a serious band and everything, but you can’t really say you don’t like pop.”

Alex shook his head, giving in before saying anything, “there’s good pop and bad pop though.”

“And Carly Rae Jepsen is bad pop.”

“Duh.”

“What’s good pop then?” Willie egged him on, his hands now playing with the many bracelets around his wrist. Alex found himself entranced for a moment, scrambling to think of an artist that fit the description.

“Hmm… Taylor Swift.”

“Damn, I should have known.”

“It’s all Reggie’s fault, actually,” Alex revealed, thinking back to the days Reggie would be singing Taylor Swift everyday, every minute of the day, “he loved her when she first started, had this massive crush on her, and then she turned away from country and I started simping over her, much to Luke’s dismay.”

“That guy is a music purist, all hail rock and roll,” Willie said, using Alex’s phrase from earlier.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“I can see that.”

Silence fell upon them for the second time that conversation, this time both boys taking the moment to openly stare at one another. Alex’s mind started to wander, overanalyzing all of their interactions thus far, thinking of the first day he had walked into the HGC and saw the boy with a ponytail and a paint splattered t-shirt making coffee after coffee behind the register, the day when he actually exchanged words with said boy, only for them to be full of mocking, the day when he found out Willie was also a skater by tripping on the skate propped next to the entrance in a way that sounded so dumb but it was really because that had also been the first day he saw Willie wearing a cropped top, the day when Willie booked them this open mic, when all of his friends were sold on the boy, the day - that day - when he saw Willie take up the stage of his café and sing like an angel on earth.

“I have to say, it surprised me when you went up that stage,” Alex found himself saying.

“Yeah?” Willie’s eyes glimmered, and he continued with a smile, “I hope you mean it in a good way.”

“It is. You guys were amazing up there.”

“You guys too,” he shot back, genuinely sincere. Alex’s heart clenched inside his chest, making it feel like he would combust any minute. Willie continued, more softly, “especially you.”

There were now sirens going off in Alex’s brain, his immediate reaction to play it cool, but then he heard Reggie in his mind telling him to own his awesomeness just once, and he thought that, okay, maybe he could do this, he could say something else nice back, something flirty, something-

“Oh, look, mistletoe!”

His thought process was interrupted by Willie’s bandmate pointing to the pillar above them in the ceiling, from where a mistletoe was hanging. How hadn’t he noticed that when he first sat down, it was over his mind.

“You know the drill, boys,” the other barista, who apparently Willie had left alone cleaning to come talk to Alex, provoked, causing him and the unnamed bandmate to laugh.

“Oh my God,” Alex groaned, hiding his face in his hands, but Willie joined in the laughter, loud and bright, the corners of his eyes crinkling, and he bit his lips, eyebrows raising up in a challenge.

“What do you say, Alex?”

Oh.

Okay.

Alex licked his lips, leaning forward over the table that separated their two chairs.

Fuck it. He was going to hell anyway.

For someone who claimed he did not like sweet holiday drinks, Willie’s lips tasted an awful lot like peppermint chocolate chip frappuccino. Alex couldn’t help but smile into their kiss, a hand coming up to hold Willie close by the neck.

Alex had never been allowed to drink coffee, eat candy, watch TV or have a boyfriend. None of that had ever been much of a problem, until he moved to LA his junior year of high school and met Reggie, Luke, Julie and Willie, who basically lived off caffeine, candy, bad reality shows, and, well, skating, really, but who liked guys too and who liked Alex, most of all. The more time he spent with them, the more he fell victim to frappuccinos, The Real Housewives, and the charm of cute skater baristas.

He wouldn’t change any of it - to hell with his parents rules. He wanted for his plans to be wrecked if that meant he could find happiness like this.

Freeing. Bubbling. Breathtaking.

He was going to hell anyways, he kept telling himself, an echo of his parents’ reminders, so he might as well enjoy the ride, especially if Willie would be there to hold his hand along the way.

(the other hand would be holding a holiday themed drink, of course).

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't be shy and let's talk, leave a comment or come say hi on [my tumblr](http://aspeckof-stardust.tumblr.com/)!


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